Haunting Words
by The-Moon-dipped-in-Caramel
Summary: After the massacre, many rumors rose up that the Uchiha district was haunted by the souls of the dead slain there. Sasuke has never believed them, until now. Power comes at a price, but it's too late to go back, and Sasuke keeps on paying. AU, Oneshot.


Disclaimer: I don't own naruto...but I wish I did.

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Uchiha Sasuke is the only one who sees them. He is the only person to be awakened to the sound of children laughing and his aunt selling strawberries by the road. If he looks hard enough, Sasuke finds that their faces will deepen and line, until Sasuke almost believes he can reach out and touch them. Then he blinks, and they disappear. 

It's dark, because the there aren't any lights in the Uchiha district, not anymore. Even he doesn't dare cast shadows upon this night...Sasuke finds that if he does, the ripples will fall outward and distort the tranquility of his memories until the waters surface has cleared to leave him staring at his own reflection.

The buildings are falling into ruin. _The boy is falling into darkness_. The gardens are overrun by weeds that choke and strangle. _Sasuke is overrun by hatred that burns and consumes_. In the end, no matter how hard Sasuke tries, he just can't seem to save the flowers his mother loved so much. It's why he can't let the illusion disappear, even if it hurts, and shows him everything Itachi took away. Because Sasuke finds seeing his own reflection is much more painful.

When he sees Tou-san walking toward him as he always did, _like Sasuke didn't exist. _He is filled with rage, his small body shaking to contain it all. He screams at them, the remnants of his clan, looking like memories out of time. "How?" "How can you play pretend like that?" "Don't you realize your dead!?!" The last line is punctuated by a sob as Sasuke falls to the floor, his tears slipping quietly into the darkness below him. Sasuke never knows who he will see on nights like this, as the sound of his fathers footsteps fade away into oblivion.

Sasuke used to think his family would watch him from heaven as he trained so hard to avenge them, to uphold the Uchiha name. He doesn't know much about death, despite seeing so much of it, (_still just a child). _So Sasuke would sometimes hope that after he had killed Itachi he could go wherever his parents went. _His hands are stained with blood as his eyes stare into space, the Mankekyou Sharingan swirling angrily against a background of friendship that burns away faster than paper fans alight with black fire._

He doesn't remember when he first saw them, but he does know that like this, his clan (_father…_)will never see him. Sometimes it grows too painful to watch them look so alive. To see them escape from his memories to remind him of his sins. To remind him that even if he trains all night and day, he will only ever be able to take Itachi's life, _and that isn't enough._

When someone at the academy calls him a prodigy, Sasuke's fully developed Sharingan flashes red against black in anger, because somehow he knows he isn't, even if he can't seem to remember why. He remembers training until he could no longer stand though, watching as the moon reflected the waning light of his Goukakyuu no jutsu. Looking down into the bottomless depths of the lake that held so many worthless memories, Sasuke remembers thinking (_knowing_) it wont be enough. That no matter how hard he trains or studies or tries, he will never be strong enough to kill Itachi. Then there is only a cold darkness, lungs filled with air, and a heart filled with the promise of vengeance…_of gaining power no matter the cost_.

Now as Uchiha Sasuke, the genius who everyone was sure would graduate from the academy in just another month, who had unlocked his Sharingan when he was only 10 _even if he had help; _Lay curled underneath the bed in his room with his hands screwed tightly against his ears, desperately trying to ignore the sounds of his mother humming an old lullaby while she fixed breakfast. His eyes are squeezed shut so he can't see the happiness on Kaa-sans face when she comes in to tell him to wake up. Sasuke knows that power comes at a price, _but he cant stand seeing so much_. Even if they can't see him…the disappointment that Sasuke seems to find in every member of his clan's eyes isn't held for Itachi.

When Sasuke appears at the academy the next day, everyone can see the stitches on his shirt where the Uchiha crest has been ripped off.

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For any/all of you out there confused on what happened its simple, Sasuke did what Itachi told him and found one of his fanboys/girls to befriend, after about a year or so he killed them to gain the mankekyou sharingan, this unlocked his regular sharingan and allowed him to see the ghosts/memories of his parents/clan. I had origionally only wanted to write a ghost fic with young sasuke, but then about halfway through it ended up being more about the mankekyou. 

Anyway, Reviews would be desperately appreciated.


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